Kaye Adams

Kaye Adams (born 28 December 1962) is a Scottish television presenter and journalist. She was an anchor on ITV topical discussion show Loose Women from 1999 to 2006 and again from 2013 and was a regular panellist on Channel 5's daily morning show The Wright Stuff from 2007 until 2012.[1]

Kaye Adams
Kaye Adams in 2024
Born (1962-12-28) 28 December 1962 (age 61)
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh
OccupationPresenter
Years active1980s–present
Employer(s)BBC, ITV
TelevisionLoose Women
PartnerIan Campbell (1995–)
Children2

She hosts the morning show on BBC Radio Scotland weekdays from 9 am to 12 noon.

Early life

Adams attended Abbotsgrange Middle school in Grangemouth, and Grangemouth High, before moving to the fee-paying St George's School, Edinburgh[1] and the University of Edinburgh, from which she graduated with an MA Honours in Economics and Politics.[2]

Media career

Adams started her media career as a graduate trainee at Central Television, concentrating on political and news journalism: her first coup was a one-hour interview with Margaret Thatcher. For the next few years, Adams remained focused on hard news when, in early 1988, moved to Scottish Television's nightly news programme, Scotland Today. She was one of the first journalists on the scene of the Lockerbie disaster in 1988. In 1992, a chance opportunity to host a discussion show for Scottish Television, after its original anchor Sheena McDonald left, set her off on a different path. Scottish Women ran for six years under Adams' chair (1993–99), won a number of awards and marked the start of Adams' career as a talk show host.[2]

Since her original success with Scottish Women, Adams has presented ITV Weekend Live, three series of Central Weekend Live with Nicky Campbell and John Stapleton; Esther, latterly Kaye for BBC Two; and Pride and Prejudice for BBC Scotland. Adams co-presented the last ever This Morning before Richard and Judy left, while, in 2002, she was This Morning's daily live anchor from Australia, reporting on the first series of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!. She has also appeared on Lily Savage's Blankety Blank.[3]

Between 1999 and 2006, Adams anchored the ITV talk show, Loose Women where, combined with the rest of the female panel, she created a popular and engaging mix of topical issues and entertainment. On 5 November 2013, Adams returned to the panel, in rotation with Carol Vorderman and Andrea McLean. In January 2014, former Loose Woman Ruth Langsford returned to co-anchor the programme with Adams, Vorderman and McLean in rotation. Vorderman left the show in July 2014.

Adams has also presented a daytime show called The People Versus,[4] as well as appearing as a panellist, and latterly as host of Have I Got News for You.

Between 2007 and 2010, Adams regularly guest hosted and was a panellist on the Channel 5 panel show The Wright Stuff.

In late 2008, Adams narrated a six-part documentary series, The Merchant Navy, on STV.

On 26 May 2009, Adams returned to STV, more than 20 years after her first appearance on the station, as a guest co-host on the lifestyle programme The Hour with Stephen Jardine. Adams presented four shows. In August of that year, Adams joined a long team of reporters on The One Show.

Having reported on the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 for STV, Adams narrated a special documentary, The Lockerbie Bomber: Sent Home to Die for the Scottish television channel, which aired on 9 August 2010. The programme examined the Lockerbie bomber's conviction and the renewed controversy over the Scottish Government's decision to send him home to Libya on compassionate grounds a year earlier.

Since 2011, she has guest presented Channel 5's LIVE with... programme.

In 2013, Adams co-hosted the daytime chat show Sunday Scoop with Nadia Sawalha.[5]

Both Sawalha and Adams are represented by Nicola Ibison of Ibison Talent Group, who acts as both their agent and management.[6] Adams and Sawalha released a cookery book in 2018 called Nadia & Kaye: Disaster Chef.

In March 2010, Adams joined BBC Radio Scotland to become the host of daily phone-in programme, Call Kaye.[2] The show ended in 2015, and was then replaced by the launch of The Kaye Adams Show, which runs every weekday from 9 am to 12 pm. Kaye is often covered for by a guest host, particularly on a Friday, due to her work on Loose Women.

In 2022, Adams was a contestant on the twentieth series of Strictly Come Dancing. She was paired with Kai Widdrington, and was first to be eliminated.

Personal life

Adams is in a relationship with her long-term partner, tennis coach Ian Campbell, with whom she shares two daughters. They live together in Glasgow's West End.[7][8] She is good friends with fellow Loose Women panellist Nadia Sawalha.[9]

Adams is a co-patron of Kindred, a Scottish-based charity supporting families of young people with disabilities and mental health issues.[10]

In 2022, Adams admitted she had been lying to her daughter about her age for around 20 years, knocking a decade off her actual age.[11]

Filmography

YearTitleChannelRole
1999–2000, 2002-2006, 2013–Loose WomenITVRegular presenter
Regular panellist & Relief presenter (2016–2018)
Relief panellist (2014–2015, 2019–2022)
2000–2001Live TalkRegular presenter
2000–2001This MorningGuest presenter (Filling in for Fern Britton)
2001–2002The People VersusPresenter
2004Have I Got News for YouBBC OneGuest presenter
2007–2012The Wright StuffChannel 5Regular panellist
2008Celebrity MasterChefBBC OneContestant
The Merchant NavySTVNarrator
2009The HourGuest presenter
2010The Big QuestionsBBC OneGuest presenter
2011Live with...Channel 5Guest presenter
2013The Wright StuffGuest presenter
Sunday ScoopITVCo-presenter
2017Good Morning Britain: Election 2017Glasgow reporter, live from Glasgow Science Centre
2021The Celebrity Circle8th Place; Paired with Nadia Sawalha
2022Strictly Come DancingBBC OneContestant; series 20
2024The Weakest LinkWinner; series 3, episode 13[12]

See also

References